Interesting Facts about Waste Management

• The very first accounts of rubbish removal services were in the early 20^th Century, horse and cart teams were used to transport the rubbish.

• The first account of rubbish recycling was in Japan in the year 1031. It was paper that they recycled and then sold it as new in stores.

• On average, the typical family disposes of more or less 40kg’s of plastic that can be recycled every year. That is quite a lot of wasted plastic.

• On average, at least 50% of the rubbish in our rubbish bins could be recycled instead of being thrown away.

• According to the Public Health Act, in 1975 it was declared that all households needed to have a designated waste receptacle.

• Irresponsible rubbish disposal and poor waste management was part of thousands of deaths that were caused by cholera and bubonic plague throughout the world.

• The power that is generated by recycling just one glass bottle could power a laptop for more or less 25 minutes.

• Once a landfill reaches its capacity, it is reused and treated as development or agricultural land.

• More or less 50% of our renewable energy is generated from the gases produced by landfills.

• Waste materials used to be bumped in designated waste areas, and it would often ignite spontaneously because of the high concentration of methane, thus the majority of waste was incinerated, only accidentally.

• More than 7 million tons of food and drink are thrown away every year, it is hard to even try to comprehend just how much that is, but it is a lot!

• Research has shown that on average each year we generate 3% more waste that the year before. This is shocking considering that we are supposed to be doing more and more recycling.

• On average, each baby will use up to 3500 nappies, most of these nappies will end up on a landfill, and they cannot be recycled.

• Tin cans were widely used and disposed of in landfills before aluminium was introduced. They can take up to 50 years to decompose.

• You will be able to make one adult sized fleece jacket with 25 plastic soda bottles.

At Ecowize, we offer the expertise and labour to manage and sort waste at source. To find out more about our waste management services, visit our website on www.ecowize.co.za.

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